Love Like Hers
by Jade of Purple
Summary: The "Welcome to Earth 2" episode inspired me to write a few WestAllen drabbles. None of them are necessarily connected. I wanted to explore the characters of Iris and Barry a little further.
1. It Was Real

**It Was Real**

Harrison looked at Barry with anger in his eyes. "You said that you would help me save my daughter, but all you've done for the last 24 hours is run around and play house." His voice was gravely low.

"I told you already, they're my family." Barry could feel his emotions beginning to rage, as they loudly demanded to be released. He clenched his hands in an attempt to both distract him from his thoughts, and to prevent him from focusing on the truth.

"And like I've already explained to you, this is not your world. She is not the Iris you know!" A sense of fury had begun to rise inside of Harrison. "Do you have any idea the damage you've caused!? This Earth's Joe is -"

"I know!" Barry yelled out before the other man could finish. "I know that it was my fault!" He looked away and tried to blink back the tears that had collected around his eyes.

"Barry, this needs to stop. You can't go back to her."

"Iris needs me," he said with an edge of intensity.

"No, what she needs is her husband." The anger in Harrison's tone had already begun to quietly dissolve.

"Why are you still pretending to be the other Barry? Tell me. Why are you really doing this?"

Barry's emotions finally reached their boiling point. Anger and sorrow had begun a dual for control as he quickly turned back towards Harrison. "Because this should be my life! I should be married to Iris! It should be me sending my parents an anniversary gift! IT. SHOULD. BE. ME!" There were tears streaming down his face as his anger finally dissipated and sorrow filled its place.

Harrison said nothing as a sense of understanding slowly pushed away his outrage.

The silence stretched between them until Barry spoke again. His voice sounded tired and broken. "I know I missed up. I know I shouldn't have left the precinct with her." Barry's deflated form fell gracelessly onto the seat beside him. "I just … I don't…" He struggled to find the right words. "You should have seen the way she looked at me when she said that we were going home. I- I just couldn't pull away."

He buried his face in his hands for a moment before continuing. "Then when we got to the house and I called my mom, it felt like this unbelievable dream. She just sounded so happy. And afterwards when I saw the look of open concern and love in Iris's eyes, I realized that this wasn't a dream. It was real." His voice broke as small sobs began to escape.

 **THE END**

Part of me felt that Barry acted selfishly during the "Welcome to Earth 2" episode, but then I figured he didn't do so intentionally. He may have simply gotten completely caught up with the life Earth-2's Barry was living. I could see why our Barry would want to spend even just a day in his shoes.

 **I hope you enjoyed this drabble. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts.**

 **The "Welcome to Earth 2" episode inspired me to write a few WestAllen drabbles. None of them are necessarily connected. I wanted to explore the characters a little further.**


	2. Blind Trust

**Blind Trust**

She should have known. How could she have not?

She was a good detective. She'd always been able to rely on her instincts; had always been able to read people. Yet, for some reason she just didn't see the obvious signs that something wasn't right.

Looking back she now realized how many signals she'd missed. Like the difference in his touch, or the permeate look of confusion in his eyes, or how tense his body appeared. She also recalled the way he pulled away from her in shock when she first kissed him. And how when they entered their home he looked around as if the house was different from how he'd seen it last.

It was all so obvious now. All so painfully clear. But at the time she simply ignored the signs. Instead, she pushed away the tiny voice that wished to examine his strange behavior. She pushed away any thoughts that conflicted with how she wanted to feel.

Every time she looked at him she could see nothing but her husband, the man she loved.

Barry had always had a strong effect on her. He was one of the very few people she felt completely secure around. When she was with him there was never a need to guard her heart, never a need to search for any untruths in his words, never a need to doubt the sincerity of his actions.

Perhaps that was the reason why she couldn't, no, _refused_ to see the signs. In her mind, Barry was someone she could fully trust, could fully believe in. It was as if she had this feeling of certainty that he would never fail her.

So even though the impostor only carried the same appearance as her Barry, her heart automatically trusted him and forced her mind to do the same.

Later, when she was asked how she didn't realize he wasn't her husband, she wasn't able to supply them with a clear cut answer. She wasn't able to simply admit that it was her blind trust in her Barry that allowed her to be fooled. No, this revelation would remain with her, and only her, until she felt safe enough to say it out loud.

In the meantime she hoped that, unlike the other Barry, her husband would not prove her blind.

 **The End**

I struggled with understanding why Earth-2's Iris, the skilled detective, couldn't see that Barry wasn't her husband. Then it hit me. Maybe the reason why Earth-2's Iris was fooled by Barry was because she trusted her Barry so completely that she always believed him, and never thought that he would ever try to hide anything from her. I think the same theory can be applied to Earth-1's Iris. She just has this blind faith/trust in Barry, and she refuses to think that he would ever lie to her, so she simply tends to take what he says at face value (or at least had in the past).

 **I hope you enjoyed this one. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts.**


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